Paladino's Bias And The Charedim: Time To Speak Out

by: Jeremy Burton

Thu Oct 14, 2010 at 14:53:03 PM EDT

In case you've missed the stink in New York this week over Republican  gubernatorial nominee Carl Paladino's remarks at an ultra-Orthodox synagogue this past sunday, the NY Jewish Week is today running my op-ed on some of the implications.

The takeway, I argue, is that while "Carl Paladino has expressed regret for his remarks, which at least says something about the state of acceptable political discourse in New York. () the decision of Rabbi Levin to then withdraw his endorsement of the candidate, and the silence of many others in the Orthodox community, together with the applause of Carl Paladino's audience this week" has other implications.

The piece begins:

Reading about New York Republican gubernatorial nominee Carl Paladino's homophobic turn in front of an ultra-Orthodox audience last Sunday, my thoughts drifted back to painful memories of my middle school years.

The first time I contemplated suicide was at a charedi middle school in Manhattan. I felt out of place there, and though I didn't have a name for my depression, my parents were aware enough of my state that I spent three years seeing a psychologist. With that help, I found some happiness in my solitude. Then I was sent away for high school to a right-wing Orthodox yeshiva boarding school in Westchester.

In ninth grade I developed a crush on a boy in the eleventh grade. He was handsome, funny, and he took a reciprocal interest in me, arranging for me to switch to sharing a room with him. Our first kiss, initiated by him, was when he drove me home from a Purim party at a yeshiva in Flatbush.

But when we returned to boarding school, he pushed me away. The thoughts of doom returned. Without a protective older "brother," I became the victim of a bully at school, an older boy with problems of his own. But I was younger, and I was odd, and the ultra-Orthodox rabbis ignored the situation. Thoughts of suicide returned, and throughout 10th and 11th grade, I sometimes would imagine the varieties of ultimate solutions to the isolation and sense of difference I felt.

Continue reading the full piece over at the Jewish Week site, here.

I Heart Diversity (but NOT Diverse Tea)

by: Erica Brody

Wed Sep 15, 2010 at 10:11:18 AM EDT

Here at JFSJ,we've been keeping an eye on the Tea Party, as their leaders relentlessly fire off demagoguery to energize their followers around an anti-government, anti-tax approach that would leave millions more Americans without hope or a safety net. As today's post-primary headlines show, all that divisive hate-talk is adding up at the polls.

As if that's not scary enough, now they're targeting Jews with a new campaign called Diverse Tea.

Politico also has the story:

Tea party outreach courts Jews

Tea partiers have downplayed the lack of diversity in their ranks, but on Monday one of the movement’s leading organizers announced a new initiative to reach out to racial, ethnic and religious minorities — and the first target this High Holiday season are Jews.

“We do need to reach out,” said Matt Kibbe, president of the small-government group FreedomWorks, which this week is launching a minority outreach effort called DiverseTea with a series of print ads in Jewish community newspapers.

The ads, which will be accompanied by a yet-to-launch website, will showcase diversity in the tea party ranks by calling attention to movement leaders who are African-American, Hispanic and Jewish.

“The goal is to build a platform for a diverse group of tea party leaders from across the country — African-Americans, Jews, Hispanics, others that have come to this movement — because there is this nagging perception that we are not diverse, and I disagree with that,” said Kibbe during a Monday breakfast with reporters sponsored by The Christian Science Monitor.

Read the rest of the story here.

All the more reason to pledge your time to talking to voters about what's at stake in the 2010 elections!  

JFSJ in the news

by: Erica Brody

Mon Jul 26, 2010 at 14:28:19 PM EDT

And the Bible, and particularly the Hebrew prophets, are also firm on need to protect the vulnerable, which sometimes requires government action, said Simon Greer, president and CEO of the Jewish Funds for Justice, which helped fuel the progressive backlash against Beck.

Greer said his New York-based group is founded on "the fundamental religious call to care for others," which in turn is based "on the belief that we're all made in the image of the divine."

More on the Tea Party, racism, and the NAACP resolution

by: Erica Brody

Thu Jul 15, 2010 at 15:23:12 PM EDT

The NAACP formalized its concerns about the Tea Party's hate-mongering by unanimously passing a resolution about the Tea Party's race-baiting. Here's part of NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous's statement about the resolution:

We believe in freedom of assembly and people raising their voices in a democracy. What we take issue with is the Tea Party’s continued tolerance for bigotry and bigoted statements. The time has come for them to accept the responsibility that comes with influence and make clear there is no place for racism & anti-Semitism, homophobia and other forms of bigotry in their movement.

By now, you probably know that this resolution has spurred a "debate" -- call it curiously conceived, call it absurd -- in which the Tea Party attempts to turn the tables on the NAACP, accusing one of the nation's most influential equal-rights proponents of playing the race card and being "bigoted." 

Building on the strange-but-scarily-true factor, guess who may jump into the ring as referee, according to the Huffington Post?

Former GOP House Speaker Newt Gingrich entered the back-and-forth between the Tea Party and NAACP in an unlikely role: possible peacemaker.

Gingrich, who appears to be considering a 2012 presidential run, reached out the the NAACP on Thursday.

"The naacp has opened up a wonderful opportunity for the tea party movement," Gingrich wrote a tweet. "Local tea party leaders across america should reach out."

Throwing around the word "bigot" when it's not warranted for the sake of tar-balling your opposition? Pretty despicable. Most of us left that brand of insult-hurling behind when we were tots, not just because they're rooted in character smears not dialogue, but because we learned that there was no truth, logic, or sense in the phrase "I know you are but what am I?"

ADL calls for less defamation

by: Mik Moore

Fri May 07, 2010 at 10:02:32 AM EDT

Good to see the ADL speaking out on this, although, as the not-so-thoughtful comments after the story demonstrate, calling for civility is rarely enough to acheive civility. Voters, finanicial supporters, and viewers need to demonstrate that they will reject leaders who engage in, as Foxman says,

Great Essay on How Protests By Different Groups are Treated Differently in America

by: Suzanne Reisman

Mon Apr 26, 2010 at 16:03:29 PM EDT

Ephphatha Poetry reprinted a very thought-proving essay by anti-racist writer and activist Tim Wise.  He asks us to imagine how conservatives would respond to protests and actions by tea partiers ifthe protestors were black (or Muslim), rather than white.  Very small excerpt (check out the full post at Ephphatha Poetry):

Protest is only seen as fundamentally American when those who have long had the luxury of seeing themselves as prototypically American engage in it. When the dangerous and dark “other” does so, however, it isn’t viewed as normal or natural, let alone patriotic. Which is why Rush Limbaugh could say, this past week, that the Tea Parties are the first time since the Civil War that ordinary, common Americans stood up for their rights: a statement that erases the normalcy and “American-ness” of blacks in the civil rights struggle, not to mention women in the fight for suffrage and equality, working people in the fight for better working conditions, and LGBT folks as they struggle to be treated as full and equal human beings.

A Government Of and For the People

by: Simon Greer

Fri Apr 16, 2010 at 09:12:51 AM EDT

Last week in West Virginia, 29 coal miners were killed by an explosion of methane gas. The mine operator, Massey Energy Company, received 57 safety citations in March alone and workers had to evacuate three times in the last two months because of dangerous methane build-ups.

By nearly all accounts, the explosion was preventable. By nearly all accounts, the government agency responsible for preventing it has been rendered impotent. Enforcement mechanisms have been stripped to the point that Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis can simply state: "We don't have the authority to shut down a mine as easily and as quickly as the public might think."

We face a clear and urgent problem. The lives of American workers are in jeopardy. Diverse voices are clamoring for change. But not all. How did Tea Party leader Glenn Beck respond to this tragedy? Silence. The Tea Party is a movement ostensibly predicated on advocating for working Americans such as the miners. But when tragedy strikes, leaders like Glenn Beck have nothing to say.

The day following the mine disaster, Beck made no mention of the tragedy on his radio or television programs. He spent not a moment, not a syllable, addressing the corporate practices and regulatory failures that led to the immolation and suffocation of two dozen men a thousand feet underground. He focused instead on pillorying the Administration for their nuclear policy.

We must then ask: to what extent does Glenn Beck really care about solving the problems Americans face? It seems the answer is: little.

Happy Tax Day - Being grateful for government

by: Jeremy Burton

Thu Apr 15, 2010 at 09:29:06 AM EDT

A new poll out today from the NY Times demonstrates, amongst other things, the cognitive dissonance of Tea Party members who are, generally, older, more financially secure and, here's the kicker:  viscerally anti-government while drawing social security and medicare.

Reading this on tax day, I'm inspired to express my personal gratitude for some of the ways in which I personally benefit from living in a nation with a (mostly) functional government that, in the spirit of the prophet Jeremiah (yeah, I love quoting him), cares for the welfare of the city.

How do you personally benefit from government and how are you appreciative?

This Just In: JFSJ Twitterstorm

by: Erica Brody

Thu Apr 08, 2010 at 18:44:26 PM EDT

JFSJ took Twitter by storm for a 24-hour cyber-protest on Wednesday and Thursday, flooding Glenn Beck with 1,500 haiku – Tweeted one by one, minute by minute -- defending social justice. This first-ever Twitter protest of its kind -- the 140-character-limit format is perfectly suited for haiku -- was dubbed a Twitterstorm.

Overall, a huge success -- the JFSJ effort generated thousands of tweets and dozens of headlines around the nation --  as well as comments from Mr. Beck himself on both his radio show and Fox evening broadcast. Here's a sampling; read all about it.

Boing-Boing

AlterNet

USA Today

The Newsweek Blog

The Atlantic Wire

Mediaite

Enjoy! Haikus can be viewed -- or submitted -- at Haik U Glenn Beck. 

The Buzz Begins

by: Erica Brody

Thu Apr 01, 2010 at 14:50:51 PM EDT

JFSJ’s Haik U Glenn Beck project has been generating haiku a-plenty – and some buzz. Read all about it.

In the Jewish Week:

by James D. Besser

It’s no secret that some Jewish leaders are anxious about a national mood of choleric rage and what it means for populations that have been the targets of past populist surges, starting with the Jews.

But while few have spoken out in public, one group has struck back with biting humor.

Read More

In the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

The best story of the week, after the passage of health care reform into law, is the Glenn Beck Haiku Contest.

Read More

In Heeb.

On Jewcy and Newser.

And some one-liners on Politico and Gawker, among others.

And, in case you missed it, a great feature in The Daily Beast.